5 Unique Book Marketing Strategies for Goodreads

Many authors still have mixed feelings about Goodreads, but the reality is, if you want to sell more books, you need to engage with dedicated readers.

And there’s no better place to find dedicated readers than on Goodreads.

Every solid book marketing strategy fuses uniqueness with variety.

Only posting on your blog won’t sell more books, only posting on Facebook won’t sell more books, what you need to do is find a way to combine a number of channels in a management amount of time and use them in smart, unique ways.

In this piece I want to focus on Goodreads, and some book marketing strategies that often get overlooked.

Start Using Your Shelves

Make a reader’s experience with you extra unique by creating some custom shelves.

If you write a series, definitely create a special shelf for your series so they don’t miss a single installment.

Create shelves for books and authors and cover concepts that inspire you!

Start Rating Books You’ve Read

This is a tough thing for a lot of authors who are already skittish about Goodreads, I get that, because plenty of you may have experienced a not so ideal rating from a reader.

But remember, ratings and reviews ARE important, so do other authors a solid and reward their book marketing efforts by putting your recommendations out there.

Start Reviewing Books You’ve Read

Take those ratings a step further and take time to review the books you’ve shelved as well.

Remember, all authors want to sell more books, and reviews, as you know, play such a vital role in that.

You don’t have to write a book report, but keep in mind reviews are just another opportunity for self expression, show off your writing style, your sense of humor, it’s a unique way to connect with other readers – who in turn may take an interest in the fact that you’re also an author. See how that works?

Start Using Kindle Notes & Highlights

But this is a SUPER FUN unique book marketing strategy that let’s you give back to readers in a way that will help you sell more books in the future.

So what do you do? Start playing around with using it as a tool to share additional content, scenes or insights from the cutting floor, or Easter Eggs about your own books!

That’s right, go through and utilize the Notes & Highlights feature on your own books that you’ve shelved. Then promote the hell out of it! Make sure your fans and followers know you’re doing this and ask them to follow you on Goodreads for this special content. Be sure to tease it on your newsletter and on other social sites.

Not only are you making yourself stand out, you’re establishing yourself as a top author to follow!

Start Respecting the 80/20 Rule

Remember, a successful book marketing strategy requires balance, and part of that balance is how much you blatantly self-promote.

You should really only be shoving product down followers’ throats 20% of the time. The other 80% of the time it needs to be about sharing other content that your target buyer market would find interesting.

So for those that are still iffy about Goodreads, you can’t deny that the platform gives you lots of opportunities for that other 80% where you’re not supposed to talk about yourself. And who doesn’t stare at the screen sometimes thinking, “What do I post about today?”

Even if you’re only getting on Goodreads once a week for 15-20 minutes, you can still make a big impact on current and potential fans. And it can help you sell more books, which after all is the ultimate end goal of every book marketing strategy.

BONUS: Goodreads and Amazon are getting more and more entwined. Now when readers finish a book on Kindle, they get a message from Goodreads reminding them to rate and review and letting them know if someone else in their network is also reading the book. Crazy right?

Goodreads and Amazon are going hand in hand now when it comes to book marketing. Don’t get left behind!

If you’d like some personalized recommendations on selling more books, I’d love to help you out!